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1/11To date the availability of illicit drugs in Australia has largely been examined through interviewswith people who use drugs (e.g. the Ecstasy and related Drugs Reporting System, EDRS); indicatorssuch as drug seizures and arrests; and analyses of hospital admissions and drug-relateddeaths. Over the past decade there has been an increasing awareness and interest in onlinemarketplaces as a source for discussion about and purchase of drugs (Walsh, 2011). There arenow many internet sites selling substances such as prescription opioids, substances marketed as‘legal’ highs (e.g. herbal smoking blends) and substances that have been listed as controlled drugs(e.g. emerging psychoactive substance – EPS – such as mephedrone and synthetic cannabinoids).EPS is a general term used to refer to substances that have similar subjective effects to existing illicitpsychoactive substances, and many of these are now listed as controlled drugs (i.e. they are nowillicit) in Australia. The advent of the Silk Road in 2011, as an online marketplace, has broadened outthe availability of EPS and other more conventional illicit substances (such as cannabis and MDMA).This bulletin is the first in a new Drug Trends series that provides analysis of trends over timein the availability and type of substances sold via the internet to Australia. The current bulletinreports for the time period September 2012 to February 2013.Key findings

•The number of retailers on the Silk Road increased (from 282 at time 1 to 374 at thelast time point), while the number of retailers on the surface web remained relativelystable (92 at time 1 and 101 at the last time point). The increase on the Silk Road islargely driven by international rather than domestic retailers.•On the Silk Road, cannabis and EPS were sold by the largest number of retailersconsistently across all time points, followed by MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine) and pharmaceuticals (primarily benzodiazepines and sildenafil).•The type of EPS available from surface web retailers differed substantially from theEPS available from those selling on the Silk Road. EPS sold onthe Silk Road more closelymirrored those most commonly used by EDRS participants (i.e. people who regularlyuse psychostimulants) including drugs from the 2C-x and NBOMe categories, followed byDMT (dimethyltryptamine), Mephedrone and Methylone.

DRUGS AND THE INTERNETIssue 1, August, 2013Funded by The Australian Government Department of Health and AgeingProduct of: The National Illicit Drug Indicators ProjectRecommended Van Buskirk, J., Roxburgh, A., Bruno, R., and Burns,L. (2013). Drugs and the Internet, Issue 1, June 2013.Citation: Sydney: National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre.Drugs anD The InTerneT2/11Average prices of methamphetamine, cocaine and ecstasy being sold on the Silk Road remainedstable across the time period. Average domestic prices for common quantities of these substanceswere comparable to prices paid for these same quantities by 2012 EDRS participants. Averageinternational prices for these substances were substantially lower.

MeThoDs useD In ThIs bulleTIn‘Surface Web’ MonitoringThe methodology for monitoring the ‘surface web’ was adapted from the European MonitoringCentre for Drugs and Drug Addiction outlined in Solberg, Sedefov, and Griffiths (2011). ‘Surfaceweb’ sites are those that are registered with search engines, and hence can be identified usingtools such as Google web searches. Retailers were located by using a generic list of search terms(e.g. “herbal highs”, “research chemicals”, “legal ecstasy”, etc.) on the Metacrawler search engine(http://www.metacrawler.com), which combines search results from Google, Yahoo and Yandex.Once retailers were identified, shipping to Australia was confirmed and the substances on offerwere recorded. Searches were conducted monthly from August 2012 until February 2013, betweenthe 15th and the 25th of each month. One search in December 2012 was not conducted due toclosure of the research centre. Searches were ceased once saturation point was determined, i.e.when no new retailers were returned within the first 100 search results for each search term.Retailers identified in previous searches were revisited and current activity confirmed, includingcurrent availability of substances for sale.Silk Road Marketplace (‘Deep Web’) MonitoringThe Silk Road Marketplace operates in a manner similar to established online marketplaces,such as eBay (Barratt, 2012), with the exception that transactions are encrypted and thereforeanonymised. The site itself is not directly accessible through internet searching with unmodifiedbrowsers. Drugs are purchased on the Silk Road using Bitcoin currency to ensure anonymoustransactions (Bitcoin, 2011). The Bitcoin currency is a non-government controlled, anonymousand untraceable currency, used in many online arenas such as internet gaming and retail(Bitcoin, 2011; Hout & Bingham, in press). For a more detailed explanation of Bitcoin currencyand the Silk Road, see Christin (2012). Ethical approval was obtained and the Silk RoadMarketplace accessed using a dedicated Australian user account.Substances sold on the Silk Road are available both from domestic retailers within Australiaand international retailers. Available substances are placed in nine categories – cannabis,dissociatives, ecstasy, opioids, precursors, prescription, psychedelics, stimulants and ‘other’.Each of these categories is then divided into various subcategories including natural and syntheticsubstances within the broader class, e.g. LSD, magic mushrooms, and various EPS families underthe ‘psychedelics’ category. See Appendix C for a detailed description of the categories andsubcategories of substances available on the Silk Road.The total number of each available substance under each subcategory was recorded as well as thenumber of unique retailers selling each substance. Each retailer was assigned a unique code basedon the time point in which they were first identified and the retailer’s country of origin was recorded.Searches were conducted every fortnight from August 2012, with one search in December 2012 notDrugs anD The InTerneTDrugs anD The InTerneT3/11being conducted due to closures of the research centre. From November 2012 onwards prices inBitcoin currency were recorded for common quantities of certain substances, both from domesticand international retailers, and prices were converted into Australian dollars (AUD) using the mostrecent exchange rate listed on Mt. Gox BitCoin exchange website (https://mtgox.com).Price information was collected for the following quantities:•1 gram of cocaine;•1 gram of MDMA powder/crystal;•1 MDMA pill;

resulTsNumber of RetailersSurface Web and Silk Road Searches•Total retailers selling to Australia quantified at each time point for the Silk Road and Surface Websearches are shown in Figure 1.•The number of retailers on the surface web selling to Australia remained stable over thesampling period, ranging from 92 retailers at time 1 to a maximum of 119 at time 2, beforedecreasing to 101 in the final time point.•The total number of retailers (both international and domestic) on the Silk Road selling to Australiaincreased significantly over the time period by 10 retailers at each time point, from 282 retailers inmid-September 2012 to a total of 374 in early February 2013 (representing a 32% increase) (Figure 1).450400350300250200150100500Number of RetailersMid Sept2012Early Octt2012Mid Oct2012Late Oct2012Mid Nov2012Late Nov2012Mid Dec2012Early Jan2013Mid Jan2013Early Feb2013September 2012 October 2012 November 2012 January2013 February 2013Silk Road Retailers Surface Web RetailersFigure 1: Total number of unique retailers selling to Australia by time point for Silk Roadsearches and Surface Web searches.NB: Searches were conducted over the same time period, though surface web searcheswere conducted monthly and Silk Road searches fortnightly. As such, there are twice asmany data points for Silk Road searches.•1 gram of methamphetamine powder; and•1 gram of crystal methamphetamine (ice).DRUGS AND THE INTERNET4/11• The number of domestic retailers on the Silk Road (i.e. based in Australia) also increasedsignificantly by approximately one retailer at each time point, from 36 retailers in mid-September 2012 to 44 in early February 2013 (representing a 22% increase) (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Total number of unique Australian and international retailers on the Silk Road by timepoint. Linear trendlines are shown in black.Substances Available to AustraliaSurface Web SearchesThe most commonly available substances by the retailers quantified on the surface webare detailed in Table 1. Many substances available on the surface web were listed by a tradename, with no clear indication of their ingredients, e.g. ‘XXX’, ‘Space Trips’ and ‘Hummer’.As has been shown in previous research (McGuinness, 2012; Spiller, Ryan, Weston, & Jansen,2011), the composition of these ‘blends’ may be altered due to changing legality of the activeingredients while retaining the same trade name. As such, these blends typically have amuch shorter shelf life than those sold by their chemical name (Bruno, Poesiat, & Matthews,in press). It was decided to exclude any substances with no clear indication of contents fromthe analysis. 6-APB (6-(2-aminopropyl)benzofuran) often branded ‘Benzo Fury’ , was the mostcommonly sold substance across the time period, followed by ethylphenidate and aMT (alpha-Methyltryptamine).

PriceSilk RoadFrom November 2012 onwards, data were collected detailing the median price (in BitCoincurrency converted to AUD) of common quantities of illicit substances available on the Silk Road,sold by both domestic and international retailers. Resulting prices are outlined in Figure 3. Pricesfor these same quantities as reported in the 2012 Ecstasy and related Drugs Reporting System(Sindicich & Burns, 2013) are included for comparison.

SubstanceLateOct2012MidNov2012LateNov2012MidDec2012EarlyJan2013MidJan2013EarlyFeb2013TotalDrugs anD The InTerneT7/11

Figure 3: Median price of common quantities of illicit substances on the Silk Road by domesticand international retailers, with 2012 EDRS price data for comparisonAs can be seen in Figure 2, median prices for common quantities from domestic retailers werecomparable to domestic prices recorded in the 2012 EDRS, with the exception of one gram ofmethamphetamine powder, the price of which was considerably lower on the Silk Road. Pricesof these same quantities from international retailers, however, were substantially lower.

summary•The number of retailers (both international and domestic) on the Silk Road trendedupwards significantly over the sampling period with the total increasing by 10 retailersper fortnight (representing a 32% increase over the entire period). Domestic retailersincreased by approximately one per fortnight (representing a 22% increase over theentire period), indicative of a slightly slower increase over time.•The increase over time in the number of retailers on the Silk Road is primarily being drivenby international retailers.•Over the same time period, the total number of retailers on the surface web remainedrelatively stable.•EPS available from surface web retailers differed substantially from the EPS availablefrom Silk Road retailers.•EPS sold on the Silk Road more closely mirrored the most commonly used EPS reportedby 2012 EDRS participants (i.e. DMT, 2C-B, methylone, mephedrone and MDPV).•Average prices (both international and domestic) of methamphetamine, cocaine and ecstasybeing sold on the Silk Road remained stable across the time period.Drugs anD The InTerneT$800$700$600$500$400$300$200$100$0Cocaine - 1g MDMA - 1g MDMA - 1 pill MethamphetaminePowder - 1gMethamphetamineCrystal - 1g$116$363$300$45$10$31$25$19$147$300$125$574$700$225$200MedianInternational PriceMedianDomestic Price2012 EDRSDRUGS AND THE INTERNET8/11DRUGS AND THE INTERNETAverage domestic prices for common quantities of these substances were largelycomparable to prices paid for these same quantities by 2012 EDRS participants.•Average international prices for these substances were substantially lower.•It is not possible from these results to determine how often, and in what amounts, illicit andemerging substances are being purchased online in Australia. Currently, there is no suchdata available for Australia. However, current indicators such as the EDRS indicate lowusage of the internet for purchasing drugs among existing ecstasy consumers, with only3% of participants indicating that they had used the internet for their last purchase of anysubstance, compared with 60% indicating that their last purchase of any substance wasfrom a dealer and 58% indicated that their last purchase was from a friend (Sindicich & Burns, 2013).

Implications

The EPS most commonly sold by surface web retailers are largely legal, or at least marketedas such, in the countries of origin of these retailers, despite being illegal in Australia underrecent legislature changes (that ban substances purporting to have similar effects to alreadycontrolled substances). The EPS available on the Silk Road, however, are mostly illegal in Europeand North America, which may account for their absence from surface web retailers.The ready availability of ecstasy on the Silk Road has the potential to impact on local ecstasymarkets in Australia, which appear to have been in decline in recent years (Scott & Burns, 2011).Although substances sold on the Silk Road by internationalretailers were considerably lowerin price than those sold domestically, this is offset by the increased risk of detection throughinternational importation.The increase in total retailers seen over the sampling period appears to be largely driven byan increase in international retailers, with the total number of Australian retailers increasingat a slower rate. This suggests a slower uptake in usage of the Silk Road by Australian retailerscompared to the international market. Recent data from the 2012 EDRS indicate that only 2.6%of participants had purchased drugs online during their last purchase, indicative that onlinepurchases among this group are not common (Sindicich & Burns, 2013).While non-specific ‘blends’, without specified ingredients, were not included in search criteria forsurface web retailers, previous Australian research suggests that these blends make up a largeproportion of the online market among surface web retailers (Bruno et al., in press). The largenumber of retailers selling these blends may pose a significant risk for users. To date,media reportsof harms in Australia have been associated with the use of ‘blends’, rather than chemically specificsubstances (e.g. http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/naked-and-psychotic-legal-cocaine-substitute-offers-a-deadly-high-20121102-28phr.html). Adequate monitoring of these blends may require moreintensive monitoring methodologies – such as regular controlled purchasing of these substancesfrom both online and physical stores as well as regular testing for their ingredients.Given the potential for the Internet to influence the nature of illicit drug markets in Australiacontinued monitoring of its usage is critical. This bulletin represents the first in a new seriesreporting on work by the Drug Trend programs at NDARC addressing the role of the Internet inillicit drug use. Further bulletins will build on work in this important area.•